Get them to do the maths!
How to confuse younger generations of rugby supporters
- Hal Jordan
- Posts: 4149
- Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 12:48 pm
- Location: Sector 2814
Bristol vs Leicester from the letters for positions days.
I get mildly annoyed when people call the scrum half and fly half "the nine" and "the ten". Maybe I should start calling them "the I" and "the J" (though Bristol's went in the opposite order?)Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Thu Nov 21, 2024 2:19 pm Bristol vs Leicester from the letters for positions days.
Union numbered RL style back in the day too, didn't it? With FH and SH being 6 and 7?
classic. Didn't Bristol have the A being the full back instead of the loosehead prop?Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Thu Nov 21, 2024 2:19 pm Bristol vs Leicester from the letters for positions days.
I can remember standing at the welford road end prior to the stand being built on a cold miserable winters day and Tigers winning 3-0 with Richards at 8 (I mean H) making sure the ball rarely got near the backs. If he was lucky Rory Underwood might have got the ball once in 80 minutes.
Last edited by petej on Thu Nov 21, 2024 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Hal Jordan
- Posts: 4149
- Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 12:48 pm
- Location: Sector 2814
Bristol did indeed go in the opposite direction.Niegs wrote: ↑Thu Nov 21, 2024 3:06 pmI get mildly annoyed when people call the scrum half and fly half "the nine" and "the ten". Maybe I should start calling them "the I" and "the J" (though Bristol's went in the opposite order?)Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Thu Nov 21, 2024 2:19 pm Bristol vs Leicester from the letters for positions days.
Union numbered RL style back in the day too, didn't it? With FH and SH being 6 and 7?
1950s England numbering was 1 Full Back etc.
On the points I was confused too, so I did some digging:
I think this is accurate. I'd never heard of a Goal from a mark
Code: Select all
Year TRY CONV PEN DGOAL GOAL (FROM MARK)
1886 1 2 - 3 3
1889 2 2 - 3 3
1891 1 2 3 3 3
1893 3 2 3 4 4
1905 3 2 3 4 3
1948 3 2 3 3 3
1971 4 2 3 3 3
1977 4 2 3 3 -
1992 5 2 3 3 -
I think this is accurate. I'd never heard of a Goal from a mark
I only know the answer to this particular moment... tries still worth three, if converted, called a 'goal'. If unconverted, just a 'try'. I'd heard this before, but the confusing bit was that both five-point converted tries and three-point penalty goals/drop goals are in the same column. So that's where England's 8 comes from. New Zealand converted four of their tries and missed the kick on one.
Just learned that drop goals were 4 points until 1948. So it'd be interesting to see a scoreboard in those days.
From wiki, sounds like it was both rare and difficult:epwc wrote: ↑Thu Nov 21, 2024 4:40 pm On the points I was confused too, so I did some digging:
Code: Select all
Year TRY CONV PEN DGOAL GOAL (FROM MARK) 1886 1 2 - 3 3 1889 2 2 - 3 3 1891 1 2 3 3 3 1893 3 2 3 4 4 1905 3 2 3 4 3 1948 3 2 3 3 3 1971 4 2 3 3 3 1977 4 2 3 3 - 1992 5 2 3 3 -
I think this is accurate. I'd never heard of a Goal from a mark
It also suggests this was still possible until 1977 ... so was being able to call a mark anywhere on the pitch (a la AFL) still in play that late?The goal from mark was seldom seen for several reasons: the kicking team would have had to make the mark comfortably within the range of the opponent's goal, usually implying a gross error on the part of a defending player. The player making the mark would presumably have considered a drop goal attempt from open play less likely to succeed than a goal from the mark. The defending team were allowed to advance as far as the mark, meaning that the kick had to be attempted from still further away, and were moreover permitted to charge the attempted kick as soon as the ball was placed on the ground, the kicker started to run up or offered to kick the ball.
Has anyone ever seen a 'dribbling rush'?
Was it mostly kicking the ball on the ground at random? In the clip where I got the screencap, the ABs wheel the scrum and just as they're about to break, the England scrum half dives on the ball. McLaren said it looked like the ABs were about to launch into a 'rush' because of the wheel until the SH bravely dove on the ball. I'd love to see a good one in action.
Was it mostly kicking the ball on the ground at random? In the clip where I got the screencap, the ABs wheel the scrum and just as they're about to break, the England scrum half dives on the ball. McLaren said it looked like the ABs were about to launch into a 'rush' because of the wheel until the SH bravely dove on the ball. I'd love to see a good one in action.